Spring Mountain Elementary students made a visit to Mt. Scoot Creek to do some native planting this week. Having removed invasive plants last month there was plenty of room to put in some lovely natives. Before planting we learned some plant I.D skills to be able to tell our different natives apart. We looked at our plants to see if they were opposite, alternate or whorled, had simple or compound leaves and if the plant had a different leaf shape. Some plants we learned were snowberry, ninebark, western red cedar and rose. Students then went to work planting 65 native plants! Great job Spring Mountain Green Team- we’ll see you next month at Mt. Scott Creek!

Portland Lutheran School @ Sandy River for Salmon Toss November 20th

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Portland Lutheran students traveled far upstream on the Sandy River to Lost Creek Campground to participate in a salmon toss. Jeff Fulop from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Corinne Handelman from the Sandy River Basin Watershed Council came out with the salmon for students to toss into the Sandy. Students also participated in a salmon dissection to learn the parts of a salmon and their functions. Despite the bitter cold students about 350 salmon into the river! After a warm-up in the car, students visited Oxbow Park. Representatives from the Sandy River Basin Watershed Council and Portland Water Bureau gave tours of a large wood project and a conserved flood plain. Thanks for all the hard work Portland Lutheran! We’ll see you next month back at Beaver Creek.

Rex Putnam High School @ Boardman Wetland November 21st

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Rex Putnam students visited Boardman Wetlands on a blistery Thursday morning to do some native plantings. Students learned some plant I.D skills to be able to recognize our native plants. Students planted twinberry, ash, spirea and rose. Planting in a wetland uses a slightly different technique than our normal way of planting. Instead of digging a hole students had to create a little slit in the ground and place the plant inside. Then they used their shovel to close up the slit, kind of like a zipper. Overall students planted 67 plants! Great job Rex Putnam- we’ll see you in December!

WEST SIDE SITES

Tuesday 11/19- Valley Catholic Middle School at Johnson Creek

Tuesday, Valley Catholic Middle School cleared around five hundred feet of blackberry at Johnson Creek. Valley Catholic High School had cut the area free, but the vicious blackberry roots had to be painstakingly dug up. It was a great and MUDDY adventure, and now the area is finally prepared for native planting!

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Wednesday 11/20- Rachel Carson Middle School at Willow Creek

Wednesday, Rachel Carson Middle School learned plant identification, planted fifty native plants and removed around three hundred feet of invasive Armenian Blackberry. Additionally, teachers on site worked with students to measure native plant growth. I was thoroughly impressed with this groups plant identification skills and their ability to memorize our native opposite leaved plants- S.A.M & T.E.D.

S- Snowberry

A-Ash (Oregon Ash)

M-Maple (Vine, Big Leaf Maple)

&

T- Twinberry

E- Elderberry (Red, Blue Elderberry)

D-Dogwood (Red Osier Dogwood)

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Thursday 11/21- Valley Catholic High School at Johnson Creek

This Thursday, Valley Catholic High School seniors planted forty five native plants at the same site Valley Catholic Middle School cleared earlier in the week. We were all amazed at the transformation of the site, as what was once a blackberry monoculture started to resemble a healthy forest ecosystem! More planting and continued maintenance will be required to see this transformation reach fruition.

Great Job Valley Catholic!

Friday 11/22- Tobias Elementary School at Beaverton Creek Tributary

This Friday, Green Team visited Tobias Elementary School to learn plant identification and to plant native. However, when we arrived all the plants were frozen in their buckets!! Luckily, we were able to bring a wheelbarrow of native plants into the school and teach plant I.D. right in the classroom. After the temperature warmed up a bit we did head outside and thawed our sapling with warm water before placing them in the ground. To teach us all how to plant, we were lucky enough to have Margaret from Clean Water Services come as a special guest! Overall, we were able to plant one hundred and fifty native plants!